AFP Africa

Gun-toting M23 fighters on Thursday watched on as requisitioned locals cleaned up streets in the eastern DR Congo city of Bukavu seized by the Rwanda-backed group.The M23 took control of the South Kivu provincial capital on Sunday, just weeks after capturing North Kivu’s main city Goma and months of steady advances in the Democratic Republic …

M23 fighters press locals into east DR Congo city clean-upThu, 20 Feb 2025 17:14:21 GMT Read More »

Burundi has “accelerated” the withdrawal of some troops from DR Congo, a senior military source told AFP Thursday, as the UN warned the small Great Lakes nation was seeing its biggest influx of refugees from its conflict-riven neighbour in 25 years.Rwandan-backed M23 fighters have made big gains in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, seizing …

Burundi forces flee DR Congo as conflict sparks refugee waveThu, 20 Feb 2025 17:05:50 GMT Read More »

France returned on Thursday its sole military base in Ivory Coast to the west African nation’s authorities, marking an end to decades of French presence at the site. The French and Ivorian defence ministers signed a document to confirm the return, shortly after the Ivorian flag was raised in the base’s parade ground.Though the handover comes …

France returns sole military base to Ivory CoastThu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT Read More »

Niger’s junta will stay in power for at least half a decade more if it accepts a plan presented on Thursday, which does not bar the country’s ruling generals from running in any future election.A “national convention” was tasked in February with drafting a new charter outlining the terms of the handover of power back …

Niger junta poised to keep power for five yearsThu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:11 GMT Read More »

Burundi is dealing with its biggest influx of refugees in 25 years as families flee the escalating conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations refugee agency said.Rwandan-backed M23 fighters have made big gains in the eastern DRC, seizing the cities of Goma and Bukavu, prompting warnings to the UN Security Council and …

DR Congo unrest sparks biggest refugee wave to Burundi in 25 yearsThu, 20 Feb 2025 13:38:01 GMT Read More »

Top diplomats from the Group of 20 major economies will convene in South Africa on Thursday for a meeting dominated by a packed global agenda but overshadowed by a snub by the top US envoy.As a curtain-raiser to the G20 summit in November, the foreign ministers will gather for talks over two days, held for …

G20 foreign ministers meet in South Africa without US on boardThu, 20 Feb 2025 08:34:10 GMT Read More »

Two rhinos munch serenely on grass as the sun rises over Mount Kenya, oblivious to the massive global endeavour to prevent them being the last of their kind.Najin and her daughter Fatu are the only northern white rhinos left on Earth. The clock is ticking before they become the latest in a long line of …

‘We will save them’: The quest to rescue nearly extinct rhinoThu, 20 Feb 2025 07:34:48 GMT Read More »

Najin spends a lot of time by herself these days because her rebellious daughter prefers to hang out with her best friend.This might sound like a common parental complaint, but Najin has a particularly strong argument — she and her daughter are the only members of their species left on Earth.They are the last two …

Two of a kind: Najin and Fatu, the last northern white rhinosThu, 20 Feb 2025 07:12:53 GMT Read More »

Egypt’s antiquities authority says it has found the ancient tomb of King Thutmose II, the first royal burial to be located since the famed discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.The tomb, discovered near the Valley of the Kings in Luxor in southern Egypt, belonged to King Thutmose II of the 18th dynasty, who lived nearly …

Egypt unveils first ancient royal tomb since TutankhamunThu, 20 Feb 2025 01:22:09 GMT Read More »

Prominent Tunisian human rights activist Sihem Bensedrine was released from jail on Wednesday after an appeals court ruling, AFP journalists said, although she remains barred from leaving the country.A court spokesman earlier said Bensedrine cannot leave Tunisia as she still faces charges in other cases.”I can only be happy, as no one wants to be …

Tunisia court orders release of top rights activistWed, 19 Feb 2025 18:53:11 GMT Read More »